Exercise 4.4. – First impressions

Living Democracy » Textbooks » Teaching Democracy » Chapter 4 – Perceiving others » Exercise 4.4. – First impressions

Educational objectives	The students are able to identify stereotypes and become aware of the diversity of impressions and perceptions that people have of each other. The students practise active listening and learn respect for others.
Resources	Photographs of people which may evoke different reactions by students are stuck on a large sheet of paper (the teacher should choose characters very different in terms of age, culture, ethnic group, etc.).

Procedure

The students form a circle. The teacher gives each student a sheet of paper.
The teacher asks each student to look at his/her photo:
- “I see …”
- “I think …”
- “I feel …”
The students write their first impression on the bottom of the page. They fold the bottom of the page so as to hide the text and pass the sheet to the person on their left.
This continues until all the sheets have gone quickly round the circle.
The students compare their first impressions:
- In what ways were your first impressions different or similar?
- What struck you at your first impression?
- Which aspects did you not take any notice of, and why?
- What did the activity show you about yourself?

Extension

The exercise may be done with a very small number of photos, or even just one photo or ethnographic video. Each student may also be asked to write his/her impressions on a piece of paper.

The teacher can give information about other cultures: food, music, family structure, etc.

Exercise 4.3. - True and false

Exercise 4.5. - We all have prejudices

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